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Minutes of the Meeting of Kessingland Parish Council held on Wednesday 26th September 2007 at the Methodist Church Hall at 7.30pm. Members present; Cllr Martin (Chairman), Cllr Baisden, Cllr B Brown, Cllr R Brown, Cllr Burden, Cllr Crossland, Cllr Lawson, Cllr Morgan, Cllr Purkis, Cllr Woodhead. Others Present; Mrs L Beevor (Clerk), 2 members of public. Agenda 1a) Apologies for absence Cllr Sinfield b) Declarations of Interest Cllr Burden declared a personal interest in planning application DC/07/1630/FUL Cllr Purkis declared a personal interest in the agenda item regarding a donation to the church. Meeting adjourned for public participation. a) Members of public - Mr Jonathan Briggs attended to advise Council on his plans for the Bethel as per planning application DC/07/1630/FUL and to answer councillor's questions. Meeting closed to public participation - residents left the meeting. 2) Chairman's Report a) Councillor vacancies - There are presently 2 vacancies for councillors and the notice advertising these will be placed on the boards. 3) Vice Chairman's Report No matters not else where detailed on the agenda. 4) Clerks Report on village matters a) A resident of Dowson Drive had contacted the Council with regard to the possibility of a disabled access marking in front of their drive way. It was resolved on a majority of 7 in favour and 2 abstentions to allow the marking to go ahead. Councillors asked the clerk to contact SCC to see how many such markings there are in the village and to ask what happens to the markings once the disabled person leaves the property. b) Letter of thanks sent to Mr Debney of First Bus for attending the last meeting. c) Bins ordered from WDC as detailed in previous minutes. d) Dog Fouling - Suffolk Police advise that an Environment Support Officer will be enforcing the dog control order. e) Pathway project - PCSO Winn, no update received. f) No response received from BT re land by sub-station. Clerk has asked P C Finlayson to chase as he was the initial point of contact. g) Norton Peskett has written to WDC again re the Church Road car park lease. h) MUGA lights - planning application approved and Boggis have been advised. 5) Reports from Committees and Working Parties including; a) Beach Warden - Report from Mr Turrell read to meeting. Copy of report has been sent to Steven Clouting at WDC asking him to follow up the matters highlighted by the beach warden including the hand rail on the steps at Rider Haggard, and the broken boxes containing Life Saving Equipment. The beach warden advises that dog fouling is still an issue. Cllr R Brown advised that the shed behind the public toilets which apparently belongs to the council, is in need of painting and the roof needs repairing. In the shed are kept flood boards and other items of equipment. Mr Turrell to be asked to meet with Cllr R Brown, to ascertain who should be asked to complete these works. Mr Turrell to be provided with a key to the shed - Cllr Morgan will obtain an extra one for him. b) Allotments - Rents are now being paid to Cllr Lawson. c) Amenities High Street Play Area - It was reported that a person with a buggy is still unable to gain access to the area due to the step at the entrance. The surface of the safety matting is also not even. Cllr Woodhead offered to meet with WDC to discuss these issues. Church Road play area - The hanging bars did have to be roped off due to the bars being loose, but these have now been repaired by WDC. Village Sign - 2 Letters had been received regarding the position of the village sign and the fact that it cannot be seen behind the hedging. Discussion took place regarding the placement of the sign and whether it should be moved. A previous discussion had taken place in December 2006 on this matter and council had decided to leave the sign in the present position and turn it round, and get the hedging cut back. After full discussion it was resolved by a majority of 9 for and 1 against to consider moving the sign to the junction of Whites Lane/High Street, opposite Livingstone's. SCC and WDC will need to provide permission. Clerk to write. It was also suggested that quotes could be obtained for second sign for the other end of the village. On majority of 7 - 3 in favour, the clerk was asked to obtain quotes for a new village sign. d) Crime and Disorder - No update on teen shelters as the land is still owned by WDC. Certificate from Suffolk Acre presented to the committee for their work at ‘Talk it up Day.' Next meeting 4th October 2007 at 7.30pm at the Community Office. Clerk advised that Louise Jordan Hall would like to start a discussion regarding the second Four Towns Bus, with Kessingland playing a principle part in the bus negotiations. She had suggested that the Crime and Disorder meeting would be a suitable venue to start such discussion as her officers would be at these meetings. Clerk to advise her of the date of the next meeting. Thanks were extended to Cllr Purkis for her work on the negotiations for the Four Towns Bus. d) KSSC - the barn dance has been cancelled due to lack of support. e) Emergency Cttee - The committee had applied for funding to assist with the printing costs and if granted the donation from the Parish council will not be required. Cllr R Brown asked re the cutting of the hedging along Watson's Gap - this has not been cut by the parish council for several years - it no longer provides an emergency access to the beach. Costs/ funding for this works would need to be budgeted if the parish council is to carry it out in future and will therefore need to be considered at the budget meeting. g) Footpaths - Mr Briggs has advised that the parish council land at Marsh Lane is covered in Ragwort. Clerk was asked to write to Suffolk Wildlife Trust who provided the initial management report for this area, for guidance as to what should be done with the Ragwort. Cllr Purkis advised that the clerk had written a response re the footpath complaint and the matter raised regarding the church yard and requested that this was also mentioned in the next Parish Council newsletter. As the petitioners in the letter of complaint had suggested that Mr R Beales had previously maintained the footpaths, a letter has been sent to Mr Beales and to Mow and Grow, asking if they would like to be considered for doing the work, should new quotes/tenders ever be required. Re footpath no 6 - it was mentioned that a good job has been made of the cutting of this footpath. h) Library groups - Flagship will produce a newsletter on a regular basis advising residents of the timetable for works and responding to any queries raised by residents. The planning application has not yet been considered by WDC. A query was raised as to the situation regarding the suitability of the premises for a post office, should this be required - the chairman advised that no decision has been made as to whether Kessingland post office will remain or not in the present Post Office restructure, so this has not yet been considered. 6) Correspondence for information a) Copy letter received from WDC Julian Walker re flooding in Kessingland - original sent to Anglian Water. WDC are asking that the parish council advise them of any areas where internal flooding has occurred - Cllr Lawson will advise the clerk. b) Remembrance Service - Lowestoft - Parish council will not be represented. c) SCC - ‘20' plenty' - area for Kessingland Primary School - the plans were considered by council - no alterations required. d) SALC AGM - 2nd October 2007. e) Tourism conference - 16th October - Pleasurewood Hills. Cllr Burden and Cllr Morgan to attend. f) Nominees requested for stakeholder review within School Organisational Review - Cllr Purkis, and Crime and Disorder Group expressed an interest. g) Salc - grant aid towards marquee purchase - after discussion it was decided that the parish council would not apply for this grant aid. h) Salc briefing - ‘What does the future hold' - Cllr Martin to attend on 15th November 2007. i) Xmas dinner - it was decided that menus from The Waterfront and Livingstone's would be requested. 7) Questions to the Chairman on matters not covered elsewhere in the agenda a) SLP wind testing mast - Has the temporary application for this now expired? - Clerk to ascertain b) Section 106 monies - Discussion as to whether it was correct for the monies to be held by WDC - the chairman confirmed that this is the case at present but that Salc are aware of the concerns of parishes in the Waveney area with regard to accessing the funds. c) Cllr B Brown advised that the properties in Hall Road will have hard standing - government funding received by Tenants Association. d) Ashley Nursery - site clearance has started. e) Badgers have built the lagoon at the back of Heritage Green. f) Question re the possibility of Green Lane becoming a one way street - the chairman confirmed that this had been suggested within the original traffic plan - funding had not been available by SCC to carry out the matters incorporated within the plan. 8) Meetings attended by Councillors/clerk. a) Code of conduct meeting - the clerk advised that she had met the WDC monitoring officer at this meeting and that councillor allowances had been discussed. WDC has not set up a parish remuneration panel and no limit has therefore yet been set for councillor allowances at parish level. However such allowances would only be available to elected councillors and not co-opted councillors. It was suggested by the monitoring officer and Lynne Lodge DCEO Salc, that if the allowance was required to reimburse official councillor costs such as stationary, the parish council could consider providing paper / black cartridges to councillors through the parish council supplier, as WDC now does. After discussion it was resolved that 2 realms of paper and 2 black inkjet cartridges would be provided each year to councillors using their own computers to print off minutes, etc. For other councillors stationary will be provided as required. 9) Planning applications and correspondence DC/07/1630/FUL - Conversion of Bethel to 2 new houses by Mr J Briggs. After full discussion it was resolved to approve the application with one abstention. DC/07/1694/VOC - variation of condition N1979/5 to allow all year round occupancy at 40 Kessingland Cottages by Mr and Mrs J A Blake. After discussion it was resolved to support the application on the condition that it was for holiday use only and not fully residential and that the necessary SSAP ratings were adhered to. WDC Planning decisions DC/07/1346/FUL - Approved DC/07/1184/FUL - Approved DC/07/1289/FUL - Approved DC/07/1290/FUL - Approved DC/07/0546/FUL - Approved Re Muga - WDC will be asked to advise on whether any further application is required relating to the building regs.
10) Finance a) Cheques for signature -It was resolved by all that a cheque for £30 to the Methodist Church Hall for the hire of the hall in July/August could be signed. The clerk was asked to ascertain who would be paying for the hire of the hall for the Salc meeting that was held on 19th September. b) Donation requests Friendship Club - it was resolved by all to provide a donation of £150 for the club. Crusaders F C - it was resolved by all that a donation of £150 would be provided to the club. After discussion it was resolved that both the Friendship Club and Crusaders F C should be advised that the Parish Council will be looking for matched funding for any future donation requests. St Edmunds Church - letter received requesting a donation to assist with works in the church yard including lighting and a hard surface pathway. After full discussion it was resolved that no funds would be provided for this project. Donation requests received from national organisations - after discussion it was resolved that no donation would be forwarded to these organisations but that the matter will be considered in the next financial year. c) Quotes / tenders - 2 quotes received for works at Field Lane bus shelter - no quote received from Mr Flynn. After discussion it was resolved that the quote from Mr Briggs for £155 plus vat would be accepted. d) Budget requirements - the clerk asked that these be returned for consideration at the budgeting meeting. e) Insurance Policy - The insurance policy has been renewed - the clerk advised that cover of £40,000 is presently held for the Fidelity Insurance - it was resolved that this should be increased to £50,000. f) Annual audit - This has now been returned from Lubbock Fine - no queries have been raised. Notification of the completion of the audit will be placed on the notice boards. 11) Date of next meeting Wednesday 10th October 2007. There being no further business the meeting closed at 10.20pm. Chairman ...................................... Dated............................................
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